Vegan Activists Enter East London Slaughterhouse

On Tuesday the 8th of November I attendedEast London Chicken Save’s‘s first vigil at Kedassia abattoir. I beared witness to hundreds of terrified, freezing chickens on their way to slaughter.

The chickens were laying in their own feces and urine, some were laying beside their dead brothers and sisters and others were slowly dying due to the horrendous conditions and brutally cold weather. Approximately 1000 chickens were crammed into tiny, filthy crates and they were left to freeze for hours outside.

Many of the birds were disfigured and had injuries all over their fragile bodies. We asked the slaughterhouse workers and the police to call a vet but they refused to do so. We also offered to take the injured chickens to a vet ourselves and then rehome them in a sanctuary but they still refused. When I looked into their eyes all I could see was fear and pain. They knew what fate awaited them and I’d never felt so helpless in my entire life.

Myself and a few other vegan activists managed to run inside the slaughterhouse and see the very place where they would soon be murdered. The slaughterhouse workers then tried to lock us inside the premises and refused to release us! I had honestly never smelt such a horrific smell in my entire life. The stench of death and disease was truly unbearable.

How can such a place still exist in 2016? How can people still be paying for this to happen? These beautiful, innocent and defenceless animals deserve freedom and respect. Chickens don’t deserve to be mutilated and tortured just so people can eat their body parts. Their breasts belong to them, their thighs belong to them, their wings belong to them and their livers belong to them!